WARP SPEED

When you have a mini van with 2 children, 3 adults, 1 puppy and enough luggage for a weekend + Christmas gifts for the Frump family.... you just wish you could get to Columbus faster than 9 hours. It used to be a 6- 6 1/2 hour trip, now not so much.

I REALLY don't want to make a trip like that one again anytime soon. I don't think my "nice mommy" persona can stretch that far again. It hasn't been fun OR easy to deal with the new addition to our family. The puppy is cute, the puppy poops and pees at random times, the puppy nips and scratches and the newness has worn off for the girls. So now I'm dealing with shoes, toys and books being chewed, people being chewed and Maddie (our 13 yr old beagle/boston terrier mix) getting mauled by a very hyper, playful puppy.

Here is a list of things that have doubled since the puppy came. Animal feeding (ie. $$), animal hair (on clothes, furniture and floors)(ie. sweeping and mopping), animal beds (ie. laundry), animal barking and whining (ie. noise on top of noise), animal pottying (okay, this hasn't exactly double because Maddie is trained and goes to the door when she needs to).

As you readers can tell, I'm still not on the "happy side of life" with this puppy. I hate the fact that now I'm not only cleaning up messes with GP, but now her puppy too! I think I would have gotten over a grown dog quicker than I seem to be getting over the addition of this puppy!

I'm thinking about telling Greg he can stay home 3 days a week and I'll take the 3 days of work!!

Any great suggestions about how to train a puppy quickly and efficiently? I would really appreciate it, Greg would probably appreciate it too!